{"id":2513,"date":"2010-03-18T11:23:16","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T17:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2010-03-18T11:24:04","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T17:24:04","slug":"85-years-ago-today-the-nations-deadliest-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/severe-weather\/85-years-ago-today-the-nations-deadliest-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"85 years ago today – The nation’s deadliest tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A Chicago Herald Examiner headline covering the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925. (Wikipedia) Follow the link below for images of the destruction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

News reports portray a dreary start to March 18, 1925 with heavy rain in the morning but nothing that would foretell the disaster that was to come. Before the day was over, parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana would be torn asunder and nearly 700 people would be dead.<\/p>\n

Today marks the 85th anniversary of what we now call the Tri-State Tornado. The deadly twister was of the likes that had never been seen before \u2013 and hasn\u2019t been seen since. That morning, the U.S. Weather Bureau\u2019s forecast called for “rains and strong shifting winds.\u201d Nothing that would indicate the horror that was to come.<\/p>\n

The first reports of the tornado happened at 1:01pm near Ellington, Missouri. As it moved to the northeast the twister tore through the towns of Annapolis, Redford, Cornwall, Biehle, and Frohna. By the time it exited Missouri, 11 people were dead.<\/p>\n

Illinois bore the brunt of the tornado as it continued on its deadly path. It crossed the Mississippi River and tore through Gorham, Johnston City, Murphysboro, De Soto, Hurst-Bush and a half dozen other Illinois towns. Entire towns were reduced to rubble, over a thousand people were injured and 613 people in the state were dead.<\/p>\n

Far from over, the twister crossed into Indiana where the towns of Griffin, Owensville, and Princeton were hit. 71 people are thought to have died in the state.<\/p>\n